Cut
by Yunagirlamy
Summary: 100 theme challenge. Goku stood up, kissed his child on the forehead, wiped his tears away and told him, "I'll be right back".


**Author's Notes: Okay, I'm doing this 100 theme challenge in order, and if this one seems in anyway rushed, that's because it is. Typed in, what, twenty minutes? It's because the next one I'm doing is a **_**Tangled**_** one and I was eager to get onto that one. But you know… it's not horribly awful. **

**Summary: Goku stood up, kissed his child on the forehead, wiped his tears away and told him, "I'll be right back".**

**Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama.**

**9. Cut.**

The first thing he felt was the energy slowly depleting. The second thing he felt was fear grip his entire body. The third thing he felt was his legs racing him to where he was needed.

His destination was around the back of the house—where surely Gohan would have been safe? It seemed not. Pain, but not the physical kind, stabbed into his heart when he saw his baby boy kneeling on the grass, head down and holding his wrist. Goku rushed over to the boy and instantly swept him into his arms. Yes, the boy may have been eight-years-old but age was nothing to Goku – he would hold Gohan even when he was twenty-five if he was hurt.

Goku wanted _so_ much to run as fast as he could into the house—however, running _too_ fast would have probably hurt Gohan more. So Goku settled for a fast-paced walk, with Gohan balanced on his hip.

The boy had his head resting in the crook of Goku's neck and tears were rapidly running down his cheeks.

Goku was only glad that Chi-Chi had gone to the village to do some shopping – she would have sobbed at the sight of her baby hurt. Not in front of him, of course—later, when he was sure to be asleep.

The caring father gently set Gohan down on his bed. Goku kneeled and placed his big hands on his son's arms in a bid to get Gohan to look at him. It didn't work, for Gohan just kept his head bowed. The way that he was holding onto his wrist, though, made Goku figure something was wrong with his hand.

So Goku softly reached down to Gohan's right hand, and when the boy stared him in the eyes, Goku offered a warm smile to him.

"What's wrong with your hand, little man?"

"N-Nothing."

"If there was nothing wrong with it, then you wouldn't be crying your heart out, would you?"

Gohan gave a little sigh. "No…"

"So what's wrong with it?"

The boy sighed again and bent his wrist down to show his father his hand—and then Goku understood why Gohan didn't want to let him know what was wrong.

Running along Gohan's small hand was a thin cut, but—_thankfully_—it didn't look too deep.

Goku stood up, kissed his child on the forehead, wiped his tears away and told him, "I'll be right back." Goku kept his promise, coming back from the bathroom only ten seconds later. With him he brought a bowl full of warm water, some soap, a cloth, a plaster and an anti-biotitic ointment. He knelt down once more, placed all his items on the floor and tenderly took hold of Gohan's wounded hand.

"Dad? Will this all sting?"

"Yes, Gohan," Goku answered. "But I'll be as gentle as I can be."

Gohan was pleased with that answer. "Okay, Dad!"

Then, Goku started to clean Gohan's hand. He took the cloth and the soap, dumped them into the water for a couple of seconds, and rubbed the pair together. When he first placed the soap-covered cloth onto Gohan's hand, the boy winced but now seemed fine.

However, that wasn't the worst part.

"This next bit is gonna sting a lot, okay, little man?"

"Erm, alright then."

Goku washed the cloth off, poured some of the ointment onto it, took a deep breath… and put it against Gohan's wound.

The boy yelped loudly and nearly jumped half a mile into the air.

"Sorry, Gohan," Goku remarked, a sheepish smile on his face. "But it'll make your cut better."

"I know…"

As Goku cleaned up any infection from the wound, he looked up into Gohan's eyes – it seemed as if though the young child had a lot he wanted to get off his chest.

When Goku had finished that, he put the plaster on and then kissed the area "just in case".

Now it was time for questions.

"So, Gohan…" Goku looked the boy straight in the eyes. Gohan was eager to avoid looking into his. "Is there any reason why you didn't want to tell me you had a cut?"

"It's stupid…"

"I bet it won't be," Goku said comfortingly. "Nothing you ever say is stupid, Gohan."

"Well…"

"Go on, little man," Goku urged softly. He sat up on the bed and gathered Gohan onto his lap. Gohan immediately burrowed his head into his father's chest. Not that Goku minded – he had learnt over the years to understand whenever Gohan mumbled.

"I thought that because I was crying because of a measly cut, you wouldn't let me fight against the androids."

Ah. So _that's_ what the boy had been so scared of. Well… it was definitely understandable. Besides, Goku didn't want Gohan to fight against the androids _any_way, but Gohan was old enough to make his own decisions.

"Is that all? Gohan, you're a little boy—of course you're gonna cry when you get a cut."

"I suppose, but—"

"—no but's, Gohan. If you want to fight against the androids, then you go ahead and fight them! You've got the strength in you to defeat them, I know you have!"

A wide grin appeared on his little boy's face, thus perfecting the day for Goku. "Yeah!" he cried with enthusiasm. "You're right! I _can_ defeat those androids!"

But, even as Goku agreed with his son, he wished for nothing more than hope—hope that a measly cut like that _would_ have discouraged his son from the idea of fighting.

**Yunagirlamy, 5.2.11.**


End file.
